Propane and fuel line help?

[Athonwy]

Hey everyone. First the good news: My 82' air cooled Vanagon L Westy is coming along great! We bought it about 5 months ago, and are now getting around to doing some serious work on it. I replaced the fuel lines inside the engine compartment, as well as the ones that connect the fuel pump to the tank, the fuel pump to the fuel filter, and the filter to the hard plastic line going to the engine. The old pieces of fuel hose were VERY cracked and gnarly, with multiple splits and fraying.

So, to the first question:

My VW mechanic sold me 6 feet of fuel hose, saying that was how much I needed. Well, I only found about 2 feet worth of fuel hose to be replaced. There were 4 small sections, 3" each, inside the engine compartment, connecting some metal fuel lines, as well as the three small sections, 5" each, connecting the pump and filter to the hard plastic lines underneath. That's all I found. So, am I totally missing something, or is that all the rubber fuel hose my Westy has and my mechanic screwed me on $8 a foot hose?

Next question: My propane tank has propane in it, not sure how much. Stove works fine. When I turn on the propane valve I get propane hissing out of a small square hole next to it. I am not sure what that means, so any insight would be greatly appreciated. I am including two pictures, one of my propane controls, and the other a close up of the square hole where it is leaking from. I am assuming the small thing to the far right is the bleeder?

Okay, LAST question, for now My stove works, but one of the burners is perfect, and the other has a high yellow flame, much higher on one side, as opposed to the perfect small blue points of the other. Any ideas?

In other good news, I just calculated my mileage yesterday, and my Westy is getting 18.64 miles per gallon. That seems pretty darn good to me, and I think I can squeeze a bit more out of it. That was with a pretty full van too, loaded with gear.

As always, thank you to anyone for any answers or insights, and thanks for being such an amazing resource for intrepid but clueless Westy owners like me.

[westyventures]

$8 a foot? You got screwed, yes.

The propane regulator is kaput, replace it asap. The stove flame - get some compressed air and blow the cobwebs out of the burner - blow the air through the holes in the fascia of the stove unit.

[Athonwy]

Thanks for the tip about the regulator. It looks like it is definitely shot. Only $30 for a new one though, so not too bad. So it turns out I was indeed missing a few fuel lines, after a more thorough reading of Ben's fuel line page. I will be replacing those today.

[crowinghen]

[Ahwahnee]

[Athonwy]

The fuel lines under the vehicle are the hard plastic kind, connected by a few short sections of rubber. I was under the impression that those did not need to be replaced if they were in good shape. I replaced the rubber pieces that connect the hard plastic to the fuel pump, then the fuel pump to the filter, and then filter to hard plastic.